Trump Recently Edited Possible U.S. Iran Agreement, Including on Enriched Uranium and Strait of Hormuz, Source Says
By Frank Andrews, Alex Sundby, Joe Walsh, Tucker Reals, Khaled Wassef
What to know about the Iran war:
- There still appeared to be no decision from President Trump as of Sunday afternoon on whether he would sign off on a potential peace agreement with Iran. Mr. Trump had announced Friday he would be making a “final determination” on a possible deal following a meeting in the White House Situation Room.
- Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post the deal must see the Strait of Hormuz reopened, and Iran must work with the U.S. to have its highly enriched uranium “DESTROYED.” A source with knowledge of the negotiations said Mr. Trump had made somewhat significant changes to the U.S-Iran memorandum of understanding, with those edits focusing on the Strait of Hormuz and the removal of highly enriched uranium.
- The U.S. military disabled a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Oman that was allegedly trying to break through the American blockade of Iranian ports. The U.S. fired a Hellfire missile into the engine of the Gambian-flagged cargo vessel, U.S. Central Command reported.
Israel army says soldier killed in south Lebanon fighting
The Israeli army announced that one of its soldiers had been killed on Monday in fighting in southern Lebanon, bringing to 26 the number of Israeli military deaths since early March.
Staff Sgt. Adam Tzarfati, 20, “fell in combat in southern Lebanon,” the army said in a brief statement.
Twenty-six Israelis have been killed in all – 25 soldiers and one civilian contractor – since hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah resumed on March 2, when the Shiite militant group reopened the Israel-Lebanon front in support of Tehran, following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Lebanon’s president says his country is facing “vicious and reprehensible Israeli aggression”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that his country was facing “a vicious and reprehensible Israeli aggression” after Israel stepped up its offensive against Hezbollah with the capture of the medieval Beaufort Castle.
Aoun condemned the Israeli offensive in a post on X and pledged to “work to end the suffering of the Lebanese people, and people in the south (of Lebanon) in particular.”
The U.N. Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on Lebanon on Monday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the castle’s seizure marked a “dramatic shift” in the fighting.
Trump calls on critics of his Iran war strategy to stop “chirping”
President Trump took to his Truth Social platform at 1:02 a.m. EDT Monday to both criticize and reassure critics of his handling of efforts to extend the Iran war ceasefire.
“Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us,” he wrote. “But don’t the Dumocrats, and various seemingly unpatriotic Republicans, understand that it is MUCH tougher for me to properly do my job and negotiate, when political hacks keep negatively “chirping,” at levels never seen before, over and over again, that I should move faster, or move slower, or go to war, or not go to war, or whatever. Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end – It always does!”
U.S. launches more “self-defense strikes” on Iranian radar and drone sites, CENTCOM says
The U.S. military launched “self-defense strikes” targeting Iranian radar sites and command and control sites for drones over the weekend, U.S. Central Command said Sunday.
“The measured and deliberate strikes occurred on Saturday and Sunday in response to aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,” CENTCOM said. “U.S. fighter aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters.”
The U.S. strikes targeted sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island, CENTCOM said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said early Monday local time that it had targeted an airbase it claimed the U.S. had used to launch attacks on a telecoms tower on Siri Island, state media reported, although the IRGC did not specify which base it was referring to or where it was located.
Kuwait meanwhile said its air defenses had opened fire early Monday morning to intercept incoming drone and missile fire. The Guard’s statement was probably referring to the attack on Kuwait.
Trump’s edits to potential Iran agreement focused on Strait of Hormuz, enriched uranium, source says
President Trump’s edits to the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding included somewhat significant changes related to the Strait of Hormuz and the removal of highly enriched uranium, according to a source with knowledge of the negotiations.
The broad strokes of the memorandum include a 60-day cessation of violence, along with clauses that call for reopening the strait and a framework to reopen negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
Multiple sources told CBS that the arrangement also involves the potential of waivers or sanctions relief to Iran that could allow it to access billions in frozen assets depending on the progress of the diplomacy.
Mediators led by Pakistan are handling the back-and-forth between Washington and Tehran. Details of each exchange are limited. Mr. Trump had said Friday that he would make a final determination on the deal that day, but then further edits were sent to Iran. Mr. Trump told Lara Trump in an interview taped Thursday that he was in “no hurry” to make a deal.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Axios was the first to report Mr. Trump’s requested edits to the memorandum.
Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/iran-war-us-trump-vance-ceasefire-strait-of-hormuz-deal-close/